25 May 2007
The NO2ID petition forms are our way of expanding our supporter-base. Every person who calls for the scheme to be abandoned on our standard form is also kept informed of campaign developments. This is in contrast to the electronic petitions run by other people - such as on the Number 10 website - which whilst well-intentioned do not help us to reach the people involved. Of course we also guarantee that we will not pass on signatories’s details to any third party.
Petition forms can be downloaded from the
NO2ID website (http://www.no2id.net/downloads/forms/NO2IDpetition.pdf).
Please spare some time to collect as many names as you can and send the
completed forms to NO2ID,
Please remember to return the completed petition forms to the office as soon as
possible - if someone hears from us while they still remember asking for information they are more likely to be pleased when they get it.
STOP PRESS
Please note that the Classical Recital in
We now have new local groups in Penryn &
The House of Lords Constitution Committee is calling for
evidence into the constitutional implications of the surveillance society. The
committee requests submissions of up to 1500 words by 8th June. More
details at www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/CFE%20Final.doc
NO2ID Edinburgh's regular Princes Street campaigning stall
on Saturdays is at the east end of
The Waltham Forest NO2ID group will be going out every
Saturday to the
Saturday, 26th May, the Tunbridge Wells group will have a
stall on the pedestrian precinct outside outside
Sunday 27th May at
Wednesday, 30th May,
Tuesday, 30th May at
(* alternative venue if necessary: Lauries, across the road)
Thursday, 30th May at the bar of the Royal Wells Hotel,
Volunteers needed to man the stall for 2 hour shifts from
Saturday, 2nd June & 14th July,
Sunday, June 3rd at Williamson Park, Lancaster NO2ID will have
a stall, answering questions, giving out information and signing people up,
volunteers welcome or if you are in the area please come along! Contact lancaster@no2id.net for more info
Monday, 4th June
Tuesday, 5th June
Tuesday, 5th Jun
(*Postponed by 1 week from date previously announced, which permits us now to
offer a trio.)
Thursday, 7 June at 10.15 a.m. Witnesses: 10.15 am -
International Association of Privacy Professionals, 11.15 am - Experian, Finance
and Leasing Association, Loyalty Management Group and Tesco. Location (tbc):
Thatcher Room, Portcullis House. The session can be watched at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/
Friday, 8th June. A new documentary featuring NO2ID opens at
cinemas across the
Friday, 8th June
Wednesday, 13th June & 18th July,
Sunday, 15th July
Saturday 16th June -
Tuesday, 26th June at the Hackney Empire. The Hackney Group
are declaring June 26th 'Clarence Wilcock Day' - and to celebrate the defeat of
ID Cards seven years after the end of WWII, they are holding a hip-hop &
poetry evening at the Marie Lloyd Bar at the Hackney Empire with some great
acts and a special guest mc. Watch this space and the main website events
listing for more details.
Several supporters responded to our appeal for more
information about new identity schemes rolling out in pubs and clubs. For
instance a "Club Scan" scheme is being tested in
Many of the police forces and local authorities in the areas where such schemes
operate claim that it is nothing to do with them, but the clubs and bars often say
that the council have imposed the schemes. The Portman group funds the
National Pubwatch scheme and also produce PASS cards. The Portman group is made
up of drink producers and brewers in the
The London School of Economics (LSE) Identity Project group
has responded to the Home Office's much-delayed second report to
Parliament about the likely cost of the ID Cards Scheme. The LSE says
the scheme is "not a project that is progressing well but rather one
that appears to be getting out of control".
See http://identityproject.lse.ac.uk/
The parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights reported this
week about dangers inherent in the National Identity Scheme. The committee
warns that: "In our view, the introduction of the biometric immigration
document gives rise to the same concern about de facto racial profiling."
Read the report at http://tinyurl.com/2ahx5w
Evidence submitted to the Home Affairs Committee's 'A
Surveillance Society?' inquiry by the Editor of 'Data Protection & Privacy
Practice', Dr Chris Pounder, has been published on the internet. Dr Pounder
calls for "a review of Parliamentary procedures in order to identify the
lessons that should be drawn from the lack of scrutiny which has occurred with
the decision to use the National Identity Register as a population
register". Dr Pounder is referring to the merging of the Citizens
Information Project and the National Identity Register which happened after the
consultation phase of the ID scheme, is not explicitly in ID scheme legislation,
and therefore has avoided scrutiny.
See http://identityproject.lse.ac.uk/Pounder.doc
Anybody in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern can
now pull up anybody else's current home address online, courtesy of the
government. A small charge will, however, be made. The information will be up
to date, because Germans are legally obliged to register their home addresses
and to notify any changes. These details were already being quite officially
and legally sold to "the administration's many customers, such as mail
order firms and lawyers," a state government press release points out. So
the Internet thing will just be cutting down on the paperwork. Citizens do have
the right to block disclosure of their details - but only if they go through
the bureaucratic process of opting out. Otherwise, they are deemed to have
consented to data rape. And perhaps other rape too, depending on who gets hold
of their address. The release helpfully explains how it all works: "After
inputting given names and surnames as well as two other characteristics (date
of birth, gender or an address) which permit clear identification of the person
being sought, and after payment - currently by credit card, but in future also
by debit - the user will immediately receive the basic register entry, for a
fee of 3.50 Euro." Let's hope that thrifty Gordon Brown isn't
reading this.
The procurement framework for the national ID card scheme
will be in place by the end of the year, with the first contract awards
scheduled for the second quarter of 2008, according to the latest timetable.
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2190552/id-cards-deals-primed-start
Most of the £400m rise in the bill for identity cards will
be spent ensuring the scheme has enough staff to be a success, according to
Identity and Passport Service chief executive James Hall. The bi-annual cost
report published last week put a price tag of £5.3bn on the plan, up on the
£4.9bn estimate last autumn.
http://www.computing.co.uk/2190051
The number of innocent children placed on the Government's
vast DNA database for life has quadrupled in the past year to more than
100,000, it has emerged.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=457046
The country's first police ''drone'' took to the skies
yesterday, opening a new era of flying CCTV cameras and adding to concerns about
the extent of Britain's "surveillance society". It was originally
used for military reconnaissance but is now being tested by police.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/22/ndrone22.xml
50 Irish schools have expressed an interest in biometric
attendance management technology in the past month, a provider of biometric
fingerprinting systems has told siliconrepublic.com.
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single8392
Another senior police officer yesterday joined the growing
clamour against the proliferation of CCTV cameras around the country. Ian
Redhead, the deputy chief constable of Hampshire, said Britain risked moving
toward an "Orwellian" society.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/21/npolice121.xml
A police chief has called for a "debate about the
ongoing erosion of civil liberties" and questioned the need for identity
cards. Colin Langham-Fitt, Acting Chief Constable of Suffolk, said questions
ought to be asked about whether increased monitoring made people feel safer.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=455543&in_page_id=1770
Lack of effective communication and delivery delays are
leaving [NHS] trusts disenfranchised and weakening local commitment to rolling out
the National Programme for IT creating risks to patient safety, leading
academics have warned.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=2695
It would be impractical for the
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/15/surveillance_scutiny/
(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )
Publication details: © NO2ID 2010 - This document may be freely redistributed
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